March 2, 2008
BESSEMER, Ala. — All-American Josie Earnest just missed winning the individual championship at the Holiday Classic Sunday, leading Vanderbilt to a fourth place team finish.
Earnest, a sophomore from Vandalia, Ill., was an all-tournament selection after averaging 223.3 – just eight pins behind Nebraska’s first-place Katy Ann Sopp. Earnest had a high game of 267 against Arkansas State.
The Commodores were hoping to repeat as team champions here and while their final pin count was north of a 200 average per bowler over the entire event, they could never quite string enough big games together to catch the front-runners.
Nebraska maintained its Saturday lead to win over Central Missouri and Maryland Eastern Shore.
“In tournaments where the scores are high, you need consistency and you need some bowling luck,” says Vanderbilt’s John Williamson. “Other than our first game today, which we managed to win, we didn’t have a bad game but we didn’t seem to catch many breaks. For example, we lost to a good Alabama A & M team today by 14 pins with only three open frames the entire game. However two came in the 10th and that was the difference.”
Michelle Peloquin finished 14th and Tara Kane 16th in the field of approximately 100 competitors.
Vanderbilt will host its fourth Columbia 300 Music City Classic in two weeks at the Smyrna Bowling Center.
Top Four Teams* (16 competing):
Nebraska 10,505
Central Missouri 10,473
Maryland – Eastern Shore 10,397
Vanderbilt 10,165
(*10 team games)
Sunday’s Vanderbilt Results:
Vanderbilt 814 Fontbonne 666
Kane 132
Belden 194
Grygiel 145
Peloquin 174
Earnest 169
Vanderbilt 1,004 Minnesota State 895
Kane 193
Belden 173
Grygiel 214
Peloquin 210
Earnest 214
Alabama A & M 1,082 Vanderbilt 1,068
Kane 234
Belden 194
Grygiel 201
Peloquin 212
Earnest 227
Vanderbilt 1,103 Arkansas State 1,046
Kane 232
Belden 225
Grygiel 168
Peloquin 211
Earnest 267
Maryland – Eastern Shore 1,073 Vanderbilt 1,010
Kane 204
Belden 214
Grygiel 177
Peloquin 169
Earnest 246
